Refugee and Protection claims processed in New Zealand
By decision status, year ended June 2016–2026, number of claims
| Year ended June | Claim status | Number of claims |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Declined | 203 |
| 2017 | Declined | 228 |
| 2018 | Declined | 281 |
| 2019 | Declined | 284 |
| 2020 | Declined | 218 |
| 2021 | Declined | 255 |
| 2022 | Declined | 329 |
| 2023 | Declined | 378 |
| 2024 | Declined | 560 |
| 2025 | Declined | 831 |
| 2026 | Declined | 1,263 |
| 2016 | Approved | 111 |
| 2017 | Approved | 132 |
| 2018 | Approved | 132 |
| 2019 | Approved | 153 |
| 2020 | Approved | 124 |
| 2021 | Approved | 99 |
| 2022 | Approved | 95 |
| 2023 | Approved | 104 |
| 2024 | Approved | 144 |
| 2025 | Approved | 253 |
| 2026 | Approved | 392 |
Definitions
Refugee and protection status: Eligible people in New Zealand can apply for refugee and protected-person status. They must show that they fear being seriously harmed or tortured or that they risk inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they return to a country.
Refugee Quota Programme: New Zealand is one of around 37 countries that take part in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regular refugee resettlement programme.
Refugee Family Support Category: New Zealand offers 600 places each year for eligible refugees resident in New Zealand to sponsor family members to join them.
Tiers for Refugee Family Support Category (Refugee Family Support Resident Visa): Tier one (1) sponsors have no other family in New Zealand. Tier two (2) sponsors have immediate family in New Zealand.
For more information
Limitations of the data
Nationality statistics are not published where a value is less than five.
All values less than five are included under "Other".
Data provided by
Dataset name
Refugee and Protection Statistics Pack June 2026
Webpage:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/research-and-statistics/statistics
How to find the data
At URL provided, under 'Statistic files for download' headline click 'Refugee and protection programmes', and download 'INZ refugee statistics pack for June 2026' PDF file.
Figure.nz converted the PDF into an Excel spreadsheet for data processing purposes.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Refugee and Protection Statistics Pack June 2026
From the dataset Refugee and Protection Statistics Pack June 2026, this data was extracted:
- Sheet: Sheet1
- Range:
B114:L118 - Provided: 55 data points
This data forms the table Migration - Refugee and Protection claims and decisions Year ended June 2016–2026.
Dataset originally released on:
June 2026
About this dataset
The dataset is about Refugee and protection claims, Refugee quota and settlement, and Refugee family support category
Purpose of collection
New Zealand has an obligation to protect the refugees that it accepts. It signed the:
1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees
1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees
1984 Convention Against Torture
1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Data is collected to measure the progress on the obligations.